The great state of South Carolina was host to a kickass party in the sleepy little town of Myrtle Beach. From Sept. 28 through Oct. 2, 2005, all riders and all types of motorcycles were welcome at this annual fall event. The party started for us as soon as the plane landed, despite a long drive down a very congested roadway to get into town. Of course, we thought we had hotel reservations set up but when we got to the place we thought was our hotel, Eric and I found out that was not the case. So right from the start, we had no place to stay. Needless to say, it was bad timing.
We made a few calls to find that for the most part (no surprise), the town was booked. Finally, we found vacancy at a low-end dump that was still full price, and when we did get to the room - if you want to call it that - it was more like a breeding center for various molds. The setup smelled so bad that we started sneezing almost as soon as we threw our bags down on the spore-infested carpet. A call was immediately put in to the front desk for some help. The maintenance guy showed up saying the room smelled normal, as if the smell of unidentified fungus was all in our heads. Eric and I didn't care, to us it stank. In the end, we did get moved to a different room - a little better, but not by much.
OK, enough complaining, on to the good stuff. We immediately headed out to find some early nightlife due to the fact that we were only going to be there for three days instead of the full week. After grabbing a bite to eat, we hit the strip for drinks and entertainment, and there was plenty of both.
Next morning, it was time to get to work. We grabbed a stack of hot cakes and followed the crowd of bikes out to the Broken Spoke. The traffic was so bad that as we made our trek in a slow-ass rental car, Eric decided to get out of the car and walk to the local Harley dealer to utilize the time to shoot bikes, hot girls, and anything else that caught his eye.
When we finally got to the Broken Spoke, we were just in time to see the Wall of Death at full capacity. Over on the main stage there was a great house band playing. Just off to the left side of the stage was Billy Lane with his Blood, Sweat, and Gears Tour working away with the help of guys like Aaron Greene, Kendall Johnson, Paul Cox, and few others, customizing a bike that some lucky bastard would be getting for free. At one point the place was so packed it was too hard to walk around. Time to stop off at Suck Bang Blow for a cold one and watch a few tires get smoked and a few tops fall off some hot chicks (just to cool off and avoid the crowds, I'm sure).
We moved on only to find Jason Spills of RC Components at the Dog House having a cold one, so we had to stop again and be hospitable, of course. We talked business, but at the same time with hot girls on top of a mechanical bull and a lot of bikinis just walking around, we were easily distracted. There was also a good band rocking the house getting the crowd dancing and having a great time.
The week was moving fast and the next day we were out on the packed streets heading to "Broadway at the Beach," where most of the top vendors were set up. We talked with the guys from Pro-One, Jim Nasi, James Siminali from S&S, Eddie Trotta, Brian Klock of Klockworks. The Broadway was packed with a long list of top-of-the-line builders and vendors with enough goods to fulfill any biker's needs. We could've stayed all day looking at toys, but we had plans to shoot a few bikes while in town, so we headed out to get that done.
After a day out under the South Carolina sun, Eric and I had just enough time to get back to the dump (aka the hotel) for a shower and clean shirts, then it was back in the rental car to find that the nightlife in Myrtle Beach would never let us down. The Hard Rock was packed full of crazy people and great music. By the time we were filled to the rim with Jell-o shots, the band was saying good night. The sucky part of the trip was to find out that on Saturday night everything was closed by 2:00 a.m. just so we would have enough time to rest before church.
All in all, it was a great place to party and see all the new shit. The worst thing about the trip was the one night of rain, but we can't change that, so party on. For more info check out www.myrtlebeachbikeweek.com, and we'll see you there next year!